Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence (BI) and performance management solutions, and The Nielsen Company, the world leader in consumer and media information services, today announced a multi-year strategic agreement under which Nielsen will deploy Cognos 8 Business Intelligence in the technology architecture it uses to deliver integrated information services to its clients.

Nielsen will also use Cognos 8 BI and Cognos Go! Mobile internally to measure business performance in key areas such as finance, operations and sales.

'Working with an industry leader such as Nielsen is a privilege,' said Derek Morrison, Regional General Manager, Cognos Middle East. 'Nielsen has a long, proven track record of technology innovation and is very sophisticated and selective about business intelligence solutions. We look forward to teaming with Nielsen to strengthen its BI capabilities and accelerate development of client solutions that create clear and measurable business benefits.'

The Nielsen Company provides its clients with a wide range of services, including audience measurement for the television industry and information, insight, analysis and advice about consumers for packaged good manufacturers and retailers. Nielsen also serves clients in print media, online and mobile services, entertainment, books, video and the music industries, and is a major provider of business publications and trade shows.

'Our partnership with Cognos will deliver significant benefits to Nielsen and our clients,' said Joe Willke, President, Global Consumer Product Leadership, The Nielsen Company. 'Cognos is not only the world leader in BI, its technology is highly complementary with our existing information architecture. Adopting Cognos 8 as our standard BI solution will enhance and accelerate the growth of our current services, especially Nielsen Answers™, and it will help us move faster to integrate information assets from across The Nielsen Company to provide clients with innovative, high-value services.'

Nielsen Answers™, a web-based platform, is designed to put the best information, analysis and advice into clients' hands quickly and easily. The recently released Nielsen Answers 5.0 has been praised by industry observers as the most complete information solution for the consumer packaged goods industry. The integration of Cognos 8 into the next release of Nielsen Answers will further enhance the functionality that Nielsen delivers to its clients as well as provide opportunities for integrated and enhanced solutions across the media, consumer, on-line, mobile and business media segments of The Nielsen Company.

Cognos 8 BI's open, standards-based service oriented architecture (SOA) made it the ideal solution for Nielsen's enterprise-wide BI standardization initiative. Cognos 8 BI's zero footprint and web services architecture will speed deployment of Nielsen Answers, and its full range of BI capabilities will provide rapid access to consistent data, integrated from any source and customizable for every user's needs. Cognos Go! Mobile will also help users make more informed decisions in context when mobile, while enabling IT to further leverage existing investments in Cognos 8 BI to continue lowering the overall cost of ownership.

'As we continue to mobilize resources to bring broader, deeper solutions to our clients, leveraging commercial technologies like Cognos will play a key role in our success. Nielsen's investment in industry leading tools has always distinguished us from our competitors, and this is another step in that tradition,' said Mitchell Habib, Executive Vice President, Global Business Services at The Nielsen Company. 'With a common platform, our teams will be able to focus on our unique expertise - the rapid development of applications and solutions for the clients and markets we serve. We are looking forward to working with Cognos as a partner to extend our solutions, serve our clients better and target new markets.'
Photocaption: Derek Morrison, Regional General Manager, Cognos Middle East.